Chandigarh, January 7: Punjab Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa has demanded from the Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Shekhawat that the central government should cooperate with Punjab for the improvement of water quality in the border districts of Punjab and a large part of the central funds should be allocated to these areas.
Jimpa made this demand during his address at the national conference ‘Water Vision@ 2047’ in Bhopal where ministers of various states including Gajendra Shekhawat were present.
It was a first of its kind conference held at Bhopal in which ministers, experts and senior officials of many states participated and discussed on the efficient use of water and its various other aspects.
During his address, Jimpa said that the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is very concerned about providing better quality of drinking water and is making sincere efforts in this direction.
He said that after the formation of the government of CM Mann, the government has given special attention to clean drinking water. He stressed that even when Bhagwant Mann had not entered politics, he used to visit those areas and raise the problems of the people, demanding clean drinking water.
Jimpa said that as soon as the government was formed in Punjab under the leadership of Bhagwant Mann, he categorically directed his ministers and MLAs to ensure the supply of clean drinking water to the people by visiting such areas where the ground water is not clean and potable install ROs in all such areas.
He said that due to the efforts of the Chief Minister, out of 34.26 lakh rural houses in Punjab, potable water has been brought to 34.24 lakh houses through pipes and this rate is 99.94 percent.
Mentioning the quality of water in the border areas of Punjab, Jimpa said that the ground water of Ferozepur, Fazilka, Gurdaspur and many other districts like Bathinda along the international border is not drinkable. Elements like heavy metal and uranium are being found in the water due to which many people are suffering from cancer.
He said that hair of children is turning white and there are also suffering various other diseases. He said that the government is doing a lot of work in these areas and efforts are being made on a large scale through established laboratories and other means in Punjab for water improvement, but more efforts are needed, therefore, the centre should allocate more funds.
Speaking about the theme of the seminar ‘Water Vision@ 2047’, Jimpa said that preparing a blueprint for water for the next 25 years and thinking for the future is a very important. He said that such an initiative has never been taken before at the national level regarding water, the most important treasure of nature.
The Cabinet Minister said that understanding the importance of water, people also have to be serious about its use. He welcomed the initiative taken by the Union Ministry of jal shakti for this seminar and hoped that the Central Government would also support the demands of Punjab.
During this, a presentation was also given about the water supply schemes of Punjab, in which it was shown that the state of Punjab is among the leading states of the country where the canal/river water is being treated and supplied to people’s homes for drinking.
On this occasion, Senior Punjab IAS Officer Vini Mahajan, who is secretary
in the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti was also present.
In the Punjab delegation, Principal Secretary of Water Supply and Sanitation Department D.K. Tiwari, chief engineer JJ Goyal and Superintending Engineer Rajesh Dubey were also present.
